Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Has $10.97 Million Stock Holdings in Linde PLC $LIN

Key Points

• Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its stake in Linde PLC by 25.9%, owning 23,558 shares valued at approximately $10.97 million after purchasing an additional 4,839 shares during the first quarter.
• Linde reported earnings of $4.09 per share for the most recent quarter, surpassing expectations, and achieved a revenue of $8.50 billion, reflecting a year-over-year growth of 2.3%.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50, with an annualized payout of $6.00, representing a yield of 1.3%.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its position in Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN - Free Report) by 25.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,558 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,839 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in Linde were worth $10,970,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. North Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Abound Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the first quarter worth about $41,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Linde in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. 82.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephen F. Angel sold 50,309 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.38, for a total transaction of $23,815,274.42. Following the sale, the director owned 480,543 shares in the company, valued at $227,479,445.34. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Linde Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $10.89 during trading on Thursday, hitting $483.59. 1,905,617 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,042,626. Linde PLC has a 52 week low of $408.65 and a 52 week high of $487.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $226.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $472.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $462.62.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $4.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.03 by $0.06. Linde had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 20.20%.The business had revenue of $8.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.85 EPS. Linde's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Linde has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.300-16.500 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 4.100-4.20 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Linde PLC will post 16.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Linde's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LIN has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Linde from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Linde from $485.00 to $504.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Linde in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $576.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Linde from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $500.00 to $535.00 in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $519.63.

About Linde

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.